Blink-182 To Perform 2003 Self-Titled Album At Intimate Shows

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blink-182 announced today (October 21) they’ll play the historic Hollywood Palladium on November 6 and 7. The band is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 2003 self-titled release and will be performing the album in its entirety, as well as other classic blink songs.

In an in-studio interview with Kevin & Bean of Los Angeles’ KROQ (a Radio.com station) this morning, drummer Travis Barker talked about their upcoming intimate shows, how blink-182 are talking about a new album for 2014, and what it will be like playing their self-titled album from back to front, especially since they will be playing many of the songs live for the first time. Frontman Mark Hoppus surprised Barker by calling in from London to weigh in.

“I don’t like to rest, man,” said Barker, talking about how he watched a UFC fight this weekend; he still sat in front of his television with a practice pad.

“My drumming got faster and faster as the fights continued, it was crazy,” joked Barker. To say in his own “fighting” shape, Barker said he runs four or five times a week for five to six miles, has a strength and conditioning couch, and does jiu jitsu with his kids because he likes the “respect and discipline that comes with martial arts.” This keeps him primed to tour as they have two-hour sets. “I have to go 110%,” said Barker.

Both of Barker’s kids love punk rock and look up to their tatted-up drummer father. “They bug me for them already,” said Barker of his tattoos and his son’s coming of age. “I tell him when he’s sixteen we’ll have that conversation and I have to talk his mom into it.”

For the band, their coming-of-age came when they released their 2003 self-titled album. On the phone from London, Hoppus says that he’s really “proud of that record.”

“It was definitely a change in our attitude as a band, the way we thought of ourselves, the way we thought of our music…we strived for this to be our Pet Sounds or our White Album” said Hoppus alluding to the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and other “bands that break out and do something different.”

“I’m really proud of what we came up with,” said Hoppus. It’s been ten years since the album came out and because blink-182 haven’t played most of the songs live since they recorded them, the band must feverishly rehearse them. One of Hoppus’ tactics to learning the album is to listen to it and play his bass along with it. He also admitted to taking to the internet for guidance.

“Sadly, there’s been a couple of times where I’ve had to go on Google and remember the lyrics of a song that I wrote myself,” confessed Hoppus. He joked that Barker has always been so good at his instrument that he has no room for progress, while Hoppus has plenty of room to grow. Hoppus said that sometimes people come up to him and say, “My son started playing guitar a year ago and he knows all your guys’ songs.”

But that doesn’t mean the fans don’t want to hear more blink-182 music. It’s been two years since they’ve released Neighborhoods and the band said that they are “all intent on going into the new year with new music.”